Keeping shoes on

My newest horse is relatively fresh off the track and has not been able to keep his dang shoes on!

He’s not wild in turnout, but my paddocks had been pretty muddy which isn’t helping. I’m working on a longer term mud management solution, but there’s not much else I can right now.

When any of my other horses pull their shoes, they come off twisted and you can see the amount of force that pulled them off. His come off almost perfectly straight.

Any ideas on what I can try?

I assume you have discussed this with your farrier.

Have you tried bell boots?

He’s in bell boots and already a 5 week cycle, but yes my farrier and I have talked and I’m already trying his ideas, I’m just getting desperate :sob:

Realistically, I think it’s just going to take time and nutrition to get the feet where they need to be but I’m looking for some sort of magic solution I hadn’t thought of :stuck_out_tongue:

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I’ve heard some people use two bell boots per foot. Try that

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Are the bell boots large enough? They should be touching the ground behind the front heel.

The only other thing I’ll add is that often, if a horse is chronically pulling shoes, it’s because the breakover is not right in front. Does the horse have long toes? It’s not uncommon for horses who are recently off the track to have longish toes.

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His feet could be really soft, which would make it easy for his shoes to come off. If that is the problem, Keretex hoof hardener applied to the nail holes will harden them up. That’s what I use, anyway, I’m sure there are other products out there too.

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I haven’t tried these yet but I have considered these:

http://www.shoesecure.com/TheSolution.aspx

They are, but I think when he sinks into the mud a bit the boots ride up and he grabs the shoe.

I actually just started turning him out in bell boots again, and that’s when he started pulling shoes. I’m not convinced it’s not just correlation since he’s nearing the end of his showing cycle, but any thoughts on whether the boots could be the problem?

Bell boots might make more suction coming out of the mud.